Combination clock and sign



1932- G. WILLENS 1,846,928

COMBINATION CLOCK AND SI GN Filed Feb. 4, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l @orye IZ ZZZQRS Feb. 23, 1932. G. WILLENS 1,846,928

COMBINATION CLOCK AND SIGN Filed Feb. 4, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 G 90(98 Z e725 -Patented Fe 23, 1932 Gnonen wrnnmrs, or cnrcneo, mnmors J connnm'rron cnoox AND srcn Application filed February 4, 1931. Serial No. 513,345.

My invention relates to advertising, and more in particular to an advertising clock.

The principal object of the invent1on 1s the provision of a simple and relatively 1ni' expensive form of advertising in comblnation with a clock.

Another object is the provision of an organization of this character, which'is easily serviced.

Another object is the provision of-a device oft-he character set forth which may be operated entirely from a small synchronous motor of the kind usually employed in electric clocks.

Another object is the provision of a device according to the preceding object, which cannot readily be broken through improper handling. v

7 Another object is the provision of an ad- 29 vertisirig clock in which the advertising matter 1s displayed to the best advantage. 1 Other objects and features of the ,invention will be apparent from a consideration of the following detaif description taken with the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the device of my invention, certain of the operating parts being shown in dotted lines,

Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view 3 taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

' Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken albng the line 3-3 of Fig. 1,

. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing a detail of the means for establishing connection between the drive for the advertising mechanism and the sgurce of power therefor,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevational view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 4,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary PQI'SPGCUYQ view of a part of the operating mechanism,

Fi 7 is a fragmentary perspective view showlng some of the \same mechanism as illustrated in Fig. 6, but illustrating a safety feature thereof,land

Fig. 8 is a modified form of the device. In accordance with the general features of the invention I provide a clock casing, housing a suitable clock mechanism and provided with any suitable and usual time indicating the mechanism in connection with the carmeans such as the usualdlal face and movmg hands. Conjointly therewith I provide in a casing one or more advertising carriers, preferably in the form of drums or cylinders on the outside of which advertising matter is adapted to be displayed, the clock. casing having an opening for placing in view sufiicient of the advertising carrier to display the part thereof which is to be seen by the observer. In its preferred form the carrier is advanced a partial rotation and then held against movement for a suitable duration of time to permit the sign to be read. The advertising. carriers are driven by mechanism including a clock mechanism as a sourceof 05 pbwer. The clock' mechanism is preferably any usual form of small synchronous motor T suchas now generally used in electric clocks. I also provide certain safety and operating features for securing the proper commercial operation of the advertising clock, and these features will be described hereinafter.

. Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, I provide a casing 10 with a clock face 11, which ,in combination with hands .12 driven by clock 'mechanism 13 displays the proper time; Al-

though I have not shown a clock mechanism in detail, I prefer to employ a synchronousmotor with a suitable time train so that the clock maybe controlled entirely by the usual com: mercialcurrent frequency.

As to the advertising feature, I provide a plurality of drum carriers 14 and 16. Since in most respects the twocarrier mechanisms are the same, I shall describe the mechanism in connection with 14, it being understood that except for differences which will be pointed out, the description also applies to rier or drum 16. p 4

The advertising drum or carrier is provided withan axial shaft 17 with projecting ends suitably secured to the casing. The drums are rotatably mounted on the shaft and are turned thereon by actuating means driven by a clocklmechanism. I p Considering first the righthand side of the shaft asshown in Fig. 3, a bearing'18 in the. end wall of the drum is free to move about' the shaft17; a light weight cbil spring 19 is ditions found in '5 hereinafter. g I

As to the drive on the opposite end of the drum, a ratchet wheel 21 is secured to the drum and also acts as a bearing on the shaft 17. A lever 22 pivoted axially of the drum carries a pawl-23 which cooperates with teeth 22a on the ratchet wheel to drive the drum in a manner to be described.

spacer 24 is pinned to the'shaft 17 between the ratchet and lever 22 and a spacer 26 is disposed between the lever 22 and the outside casing. It is seen from Figs. 3 and 6 particularly, that if the lever 22 is rotated back and forth the pawl 23 will engage in back of successive teeth 21a and rotate the drum one tooth position each time the lever 22 is operated. A regular ratchet action takes place in which pawl'23rides over the top of a tooth and thendrops down on the tooth to drive the ratchet from the tooth on the 5 return movement of the pawl.

' In driving the lever 22, I may provide any suitable reciprocating mechanism operated by a clock mechanism. a driving gear 27 meshing with and driven by a gear 28 forming part of the clock mechanism. A drive rod 29hasapivotalcom1ection to the driving gear 27 at a point away .from the axis thereof and the opposite end of the rod 29 is pivotally connected to an extension of the lever 22.- As Fig. 6 shows, substantially right angular bend 29a in the rod 29. This provides me with an'assemblingmeans, whereby the overall length of the rodcan beadjusted to meet the exact conaiparticular clock when it isassembled. It may be said that in order to obtain a satisfactory drive from a relative- 1y small output motor, I reduce friction by making all of the connections between the moving parts as loose as possible. This means that there is considerable mannfacturing tolerance and the adjustment in the driving red by means of the bend 29a permits me to allow for the differences in the dimensions which will occur from clock to clock.

The amount of rotationimparted to the drum is'determined in large partby the gear 27 and the distance away from the axis of the gear at which the rod 29 is pivoted. In igs. 4 and .5 I show means for changing the gear 27 and allowing for the adjustment which must be made if a gear of 'a small diameter is substituted for a gear of a large diameter and vice-versa; The gear 27 turns on a stub shaft 31, which is the unthreaded shank of a bolt, the threaded portion 31a being held in a boss 32 of an adjustable mounting member. This member has a bolt-like,

projection 33 extending through a transverse slot 34 in the plate 36 and a nut 37 following In the drawings 1 show.

engaging the pawl I-form a the drum one tooth he d In the ratchet'drivefor'the drum I provide-cei'tain safety and operating features, which are of importance in the proper functioning if the device. The pawl 23 is in the form of a flat spring set at an angle slot 22a in sitioned so that moving in one direction it is free to flex so as to snap overa ratchet tooth and engage behind it position. On the drive movement, however, the side edge of the pawl engages the ratchet tooth and the strain is placed upon the pawl, in a direction which resists bending. A safety precaution is made alsd in this construction, as shown in Fig. 7. When the advertising matter on the drums is changed, the'attendant may-move the drum ,1n the wrong direction and this would tend and it might result in a breakage of some of'the working parts, for example the motor where a small, sync ronous motor was will bend to allow the teeth to reverse direction. A boss 21?) on t e ratchet wheel is of substantially the same diameter as the insidediameter of the teeth. Accordingly, when the drum is then turned in the proper direction the pawl immediatelymoves back into'its normal osition as shown'in Fig. 6. As far as sa ety features are concerned, I wish to state that I also form the drive rod 29 of a somewhat resilient spring material so that the rod can flex if too great stra n is applied thereto and thus prevent brea'kage 'of parts which otherwise would ave to move if it were not for the flexing of the drive rod.

used. The sprin, i; pawl.

ass in a 4 preparatory to driving a work performed by the clock mechanism, I

form the lever 22 with a relatively long extension 22?), which functions as a counterweight to balance the loads With the construction shown, the rum is driven on the downward movement of the rod 29 and on the return movement upwardly the pawl 23 en-' gages behind another tooth, preparatory to driving the drum again one forward position. Thewei ht at 226 causes some additional work to e performed by the motoron the up-stroke of the rod 29, but on the downstroke the weight 226 functions to assist in the turning ofthe advertising drum.

.Where a plurality ofdrums are employed, the drive is from one drum to another. I show in Fig. 2 a drive shaft 129,'Wl1lQh is pivotally connected to the top lever '22 to be driven thereby, but connects to the bottom lever 22 in substantially the same way as described in drum. is turned relatively is relatively light in connection with the top Although the drum slowly, and although it weight, itpossesses some momentum when the driving mechanism has rea'ched the end of its driving movement and it is desired to prevent an overrunning of the drum, whichmight display the advertising matter out of position. The spring 19' places just enough friction on the drum to prevent overrunning. I wish to avoid excessive friction, of course, because the mechanism which drives the drum is relabodiment shown a.- pain of end discs 41 made.

of relatively thin metal and a pa er board cylinder 42, which the formed edges of the discs engage to produce a very light welght drum. At regularly spaced intervals nar row fibre board strips 43 are stapled to the cylinder 42 in such a way that the edges thereof are allowedto project up at a slight angle throughoutfihe length of the drum.

- relativelyt in, engage under Advertisin cards 44, which are preferably the strips in the manner shown. (Fig. 2.) The advertising matter on these cards is visible through openings 46 in the clock casing. The opening should ,be just wide enough as compared with the card so that. all of the advertising matter on any one card is displayed to view, but advertising matter on adjacent cards isentirely concealed. It is of course obvious that there must be a tooth 21a for each card space 44, as each time the drum is turned one tooth position it is also turned one card osition. Y In the design and operation of t e clock there are some features which should appear clear from the preceding description, but in order that those skilled ingthe art may have no misunderstanding of all the featuresof details will be the invention, some of these explained more fully. W .7 The throw or amplitude of movement of the rod 29 is determined by the distance off center at which it is pivotally attached to the gear 27. If its movement up and down is uivalent to the width of one'tooth, then it Wlll require the same amount of time for the drum-to turn from one position to another as the time the drum wil stand in one position after "being turned. In other words,

the display period and the moving period will correspond. But the rod 29 may move just slightly less than the width of two teeth; that is, just enough to avoid engaging-behind the second tooth during the we of the drum. Then the display period will be almost three times as long as the movement period. It is quite clear that by changing thezspeedof drive by substituting a larger or smaller wheel 27, or by changing the lo-' cationfof the pivot point between the drive rod 29 and the gear 27, or by other obvious adjustments substantially any driving 'seuence desired or any timing scheme within t ie limitations of the design can be obtained. The clock is intended for use in' public placessuch as small theatre lobbies, retail establishments and other places where the public is accustomed to lookingfor the time. The advertising matter will be any that will be in keeping with the particular requirements resent or the desirability thereof.

For ex mple, wherethe clock'isused in the lobby of a. theatre, it could advertise coming attractionsv or it could advertise the wares of local merchants which would 'be used instore or drug store can advertise specials of theday or week. For the advertising signs, an ordinary fairly stifli' grade of paper can be used. It can'either' be printed or hand relatively smaller communities. A grocery I lettered, although of course the best advertis ng results are obtained with nicely colored, printed signs. The cheapness of the sign and the ease and quickness with which it can be changed, render the advertising clock ideally suited for the purpose for which it is designed.

Another feature, and advantage .of the drum driving means has to do in aiding the synchronous motor "to keep the proper time speed. When the pawhengages the ratchet wheel onthedrive stroke of the rod 29, there is ust enough give to enable the motor-to govercome the inertia of-the drum without los tor at spaced-intervals, the motor may lose the equivalent of one current cycle, thereby gradually losing time. The spring connections, including the drive rod, and princi-'- -pally the spring pawl overcome this'tendenc- VIhat I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the-United States is:

. 1. In an advertising clock, a clock mechanism, a pivotally supported drum, a ratchet gear carried by the drum, a lever pivoted axially of the drum, a pawl carried by the lever and engagingfsaid'ratchet wheel, a rod havlng any of its forward speed. c I havefound that when a positive load is placed on the moing one end pivotally'connected to the lever, 1

means operable by the clock mechanism for reciprocating said rod, and safety means for preventing breaking of the clockmechanism when the drum is turned against the holding action of said pawl.

2. In an advertising clock, a clock mechanism, a pivotally supported drum, a ratchet gear carried by the drum, a lever' ivoted axially of the drum, a pawl carried by the ciprocation of 'the ratchet wheel, a" rod having one end pivotally connected to the lever, a gear wheel driven by the clock mechanism, means for forming a connection be tween the rod and gear wheel to cause'a rerod, and mounting means to permit replacement or to modifythe reciprocatlever and engaging said for the gear wheel adjustment thereof mg characteristics thereof.

' lever "and engaging In an advertising clock, a clock mechanism, a drum having a pair of axial pivot members, a ratchet wheel at one pivot, a pawl engaging the ratchet wheel, means driven by the clock mechanism for reciprocating the pawl a distance equal to at least one tooth interval of the ratchet, whereby the drum is intermittently advanced, and a coil spring mounted at the other pivot and frictionally engaging the drum, said spring arresting movement of the drum when released by the pawl, and allowing end movement of the drum to aidin releasing the pawl when the I lever,

wheel at one pivot, a pawl engaging the ratchet wheel, means driven by on the motor during the reciprocating cycle of said rod. 1 I

7 2 In an advertising clock, a clock mechanism, a pivotally supported drum, a ratchet gear carried by the drum, a lever pivoted axially of the drum, a pawl carried by the lever and engaging said ratchet wheel, a rod having one end pivotally connected to the means operable by the clock mechanism for reciprocating said rod, a second pivotally mounted drum, a ratchet wheel secured thereto, a pivoted said ratchet wheel, and a rod having a pivotal connection to said lever and to said first mentioned lever, whereby reciprocating movement of the first mentioned rod is img parted to the second mentioned rod and the two drums are rotated in unison;

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 16th day of January, 1931.

GEORGE WILLENS.

drum is turned by hand against the holding action of'the pawl, said pawl formed of spring steel and set at an angle to flex away from the ratchet wheel when the drum is so turned by hand.

5. In an advertising clock, a clock mechanism, a pivotally supported drum, a ratchet gear carried by the drum, a lever pivoted axially of the drum, a pawl carried bythe said ratchet wheel, a rod having one end pivotally connected to the lever, means operable by the clock mechanism for reciprocating said rod, said rod be-' ing formed of relatively smallgauge spring steel, adequately strong to drive the drum in normal operation, but flexing when the drum is turned in a reverse direction, therelever having a pawl engaging by avoiding placing a breaking strain on the parts of the clock mechanism. 6. In an advertising clock, a clocltmechanism, a pivotally sup'ported drum, a ratchet gear carried by the drum, a lever pivoted axially of the drum,a pawl carried by the lever and engaging said ratchet wheel, a rod having one end pivotally connected to the lever, and means operable by the clock mechanism for reciprocating said rod, said lever being counterweighted to equalize the load 

